When I'm trying to do simple beats such as one and one and one on the bass drum my foot will twitch and make 2 sounds instead of one. It's almost like a reaction to the beat. Does anyone know how to stop this? I'm not sure if its because I like to play fast and when I slow it down it just wants to speed up again. Any tips would help thanks fellers

Sounds like a muscle control issue. Try isolating the problem. Play slow quarter notes, on the bass drum only, to a metronome, set at say 50 BPM or less. Don't skip the metronome part. Your brain has to learn the spaces between the notes so you can "fire" your bass drum muscles at the correct time.

Aim for one hit only per click and try and bury the click.

Sounds boring, but look at it as a challenge to get it perfect. If you do that for 1 hour straight, that's 3600 hits, you really should get a handle on it.

First of all, what Larry said above. You have to learn good control with your feet. If you don't have that together, then nothing else is going to matter. Also:

When you play a note on the bass drum, the head can rebound significantly and inadvertently come into contact with the beater again after the initial note. This can cause an extra note, or even a buzz of several notes, to be played that you don't intend.

The key is to get the beater out of the way of the head or find a way to control the response of the batter head to prevent it from happening.

One approach is to bury the beater forcefully into the head. This prevents the kickback you are getting from the head, but it also squelches the head response and will cost you some tone.

Another option is to work on pedal technique until you learn to get the beater out of the way of the head so it never gets a second chance at coming into contact with the head.

In my experience, there are a ton of variables here that affect the feel of the bass drum head response. Tuning, types of heads, muffling, whether or not the head is ported and pedal tension are all things you can adjust to try to reduce this problem.

There are also some good threads already on this site about this topic that you should search for suggestions.

I've never ever heard of something such as multiple hits due to muscle twitching... I'm with 8mile and Larry here, let the beater rebound and catch the footboard with your foot on the way back up to prevent additional hits.

My bass drum technique isn't very good and occasionally the beater "bobbles", especially if I play heel-down.

I don't wish to hijack this thread, but I have a couple of numpty questions: does "ported" mean with a hole in? And what difference does this make? (Apart from that the cat can go in it, of course - even if he doesn't stay in it for very long ...)

My bass drum technique isn't very good and occasionally the beater "bobbles", especially if I play heel-down.

I don't wish to hijack this thread, but I have a couple of numpty questions: does "ported" mean with a hole in? And what difference does this make? (Apart from that the cat can go in it, of course - even if he doesn't stay in it for very long ...)

Yes Madge, ported means having a hole in your bass drum reso head. 4 or 5 inches is a good size. The difference in tone is less boom. A ported non muffled kick has a shorter note, is deader sounding with less boom. It also greatly affects the way your pedal feels. I was a ported player my whole life. I switched to full front head about a year ago and am very glad I did. There was a little bit of adjustment, but now I can't ever see myself going back to a ported drum. Why? I love the sound of my wide open non ported kick.

When I'm trying to do simple beats such as one and one and one on the bass drum my foot will twitch and make 2 sounds instead of one. It's almost like a reaction to the beat. Does anyone know how to stop this? I'm not sure if its because I like to play fast and when I slow it down it just wants to speed up again. Any tips would help thanks fellers

The double stroke you're referring to is normal, the pedal is only doing it's job and want to return in it's initial position, but your foot's on the way causing the second unwanted stroke, it's the control of the strokes/movements of your foot which causes the flutter action when you hit the batter head, it can happen with either techniques, burying the beater or playing on the rebound, using heel-down, heel-up or heel-toe with your foot.

You can avoid this by studying, analyzing and developing your movement and motion in regard to the pedal natural's action.

Also a lot can done by adjusting your pedal accordingly, your problem could be that the beater is too near the batter head, or the footplate of the pedal is set too high, or the spring is set to high increasing the speed of the return of the pedal.

Take time to adjust your pedal and/or your position behind the kit, you should be able to play your bass drum with control, accuracy, dynamics and feel without having a mind blowing experience to achieve it, it should be an effortless and a natural experience, like with you hands holding sticks, so you can concentrate in playing music, not concentrate and being distracted by bass drum flutters.

I've put a link below to give you some tips on how to get the setting working for you...

Quote:

Originally Posted by 8Mile

There are also some good threads already on this site about this topic that you should search for suggestions.

The OP post deal with a (working) method of how to go about about setting the pedal and the drummer to achieve what you want while using your technique.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Magenta

I don't wish to hijack this thread, but I have a couple of numpty questions: does "ported" mean with a hole in? And what difference does this make?

Yes Madge, it does mean having a hole in the reso head, typically a 4" port hole, it reduces the amount of air inside the bass drum by projecting it out, resulting in less rebound from the batter head and a dryer more punchy sound from the bass drum, it's also useful for micing purposes.

Sounds like a muscle control issue. Try isolating the problem. Play slow quarter notes, on the bass drum only, to a metronome, set at say 50 BPM or less. Don't skip the metronome part. Your brain has to learn the spaces between the notes so you can "fire" your bass drum muscles at the correct time.

Aim for one hit only per click and try and bury the click.

Sounds boring, but look at it as a challenge to get it perfect. If you do that for 1 hour straight, that's 3600 hits, you really should get a handle on it.

Playing slow teaches accuracy and a whole lot more.

Do you bury the beater or let it rebound?

I think I let it rebound Becuz when I'm playing fast I work off the bounce to get a faster beat. My goal when I started drumming was to be able to make a double bass sound with a single pedel. I'm gonna try this exercise to night and see if it does improve. Thanks so much too all of u for the great advice still a little confused on the tune of my bass I might have it to tight and that might be causing it to bounce also I have the cylinder cotton looking beater. Would it be better to upgrade to the plastic with the rubber front?

Bury the beater...that means you mash the beater into the head, not allowing the beater to rebound at all. When you bury the beater on a bass drum with a full front head, well when I do it anyway, I get the unwanted "multiple bounce" thing going on. As opposed to letting the beater bounce off the batter head unimpeded.

I'm not saying your bass is tuned too tight. What I am saying is that on a bass drum with a full front head, if you bury the beater, you could experience what sounds like more than one note due to multiple bounces.

Edit: Ok just read your last post. Sounds like you are letting the beater rebound. That's good bass drum technique, as it pulls the best tone from the bass drum. (IMO) Which means your problem does sound like a legitimate muscle twitch. I was trying to determine if you were getting the multiple bounce thing happening from burying the beater. It does sound like a muscle control issue which should be able to be corrected with slow methodical practice to a metronome.

The double stroke you're referring to is normal, the pedal is only doing it's job and want to return in it's initial position, but your foot's on the way causing the second unwanted stroke, it's the control of the strokes/movements of your foot which causes the flutter action when you hit the batter head, it can happen with either techniques, burying the beater or playing on the rebound, using heel-down, heel-up or heel-toe with your foot.

You can avoid this by studying, analyzing and developing your movement and motion in regard to the pedal natural's action.

Also a lot can done by adjusting your pedal accordingly, your problem could be that the beater is too near the batter head, or the footplate of the pedal is set too high, or the spring is set to high increasing the speed of the return of the pedal.

Take time to adjust your pedal and/or your position behind the kit, you should be able to play your bass drum with control, accuracy, dynamics and feel without having a mind blowing experience to achieve it, it should be an effortless and a natural experience, like with you hands holding sticks, so you can concentrate in playing music, not concentrate and being distracted by bass drum flutters.

I've put a link below to give you some tips on how to get the setting working for you...

The OP post deal with a (working) method of how to go about about setting the pedal and the drummer to achieve what you want while using your technique.

Yes Madge, it does mean having a hole in the reso head, typically a 4" port hole, it reduces the amount of air inside the bass drum by projecting it out, resulting in less rebound from the batter head and a dryer more punchy sound from the bass drum, it's also useful for micing purposes.

Thanks so much. Iv got a lot if adjusting to do tonight. Thanks again for the link